Before I left Washington DC, I asked if there was anything from America that anyone wanted so that I could bring it with me. The answer was “yes,” and the request was if I could make an authentic American dinner for 15 – a dinner of Mexican tacos. I gladly accepted and filled my suitcase accordingly, and that is what I helped prepare in the tropical rain forest.

Clouds rolling into the mountains before a thunderstorm

I thought this was a novel idea – a Filipino-American preparing a Mexican-American meal for a Chinese-Malaysian family. Sans oven, we had to “bake” the shells in the microwave oven and make some substitutions. I made the mistake of underestimating the caliber of the Malay taste for spiciness and only brought a relatively mild salsa. Great for me, but weak for them.

Heliconia plants

After an initial demonstration on how to assemble a taco, everyone made one, and after that, people were on their own. This led to many interesting combinations including the creation of a Mexican-Malaysian taco, i.e. taco meat adorned with salsa, local peppers, and crumbled taco shell atop white rice and Chinese-style vegetables.